UMD Center for Advocacy and Political Leadership hosting the MAPL program

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The MAPL Program

GUEST SPEAKERS > Spring 2007

The MAPL program contacts a number of outstanding leaders in advocacy and politics to ask them to agree to be part of MAPL's pool of community faculty. The guest speakers involved in the spring 2007 Semester will be added below:

Pamela Kramer, Program Director of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), will provide a Duluth Housing Tour for our Urban Policy course on Saturday, May 5.

Pam Kramer is the Senior Program Director for Duluth Local Initiatives Support Corporation overseeing work with the public, private and nonprofit sectors to transform distressed neighborhoods into healthy communities. Through Duluth LISC’s facilitation and support “At Home in Duluth”, a 20 member collaborative for comprehensive redevelopment of four Duluth neighborhoods, has secured over $12 million in public/ private funds. Pam served as a Senior Planner and Manager of the City of Duluth’s Community Development Division from 1984-1997. Pam has 25+ years of experience in housing, neighborhood planning, and community development. She has a Masters in Planning, is a 2003-2004 Knight Foundation Community Building Fellow and a 2006 graduate of the Blandin Community Leadership Program.

Dr. John Barry presented on Saturday, April 28, for the MAPL 5117, Urban Policy, course.

(copies of his presentations can be found here: Cool Rationalities and Hot Air and Resistance is Fertile)

Dr. Barry is Reader in the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy at Queen's University Belfast and a founding member of the Institute for a Sustainable World at QUB. His areas of research include: green moral and political theory; normative aspects of environmental and sustainable development politics policy; environmental governance and governance for sustainable development; the greening of citizenship and civic republicanism; green politics in Ireland, North and South; the governance of science and innovation; the link between academic knowledge and political activism and policy making; trust, legitimacy and public policy; citizenship, public policy and governance; theories and practices of reconciliation in Northern Ireland. His books include, Rethinking Green Politics: Nature, Virtue and Progress (1999) - [winner of the Political Studies Association Mackenzie prize for best book published in political science] - Environment and Social Theory, 2nd edition, (2006); and Citizenship, Sustainability and Environmental Research (2000). His co-edited books include - The International Encyclopedia of Environmental Politics (2001), Sustaining Liberal Democracy (2002); Europe, Globalisation and Sustainability (2004), The Nation-State and the Global Ecological Crisis (2005) and Contemporary Environmental Politics (2006). He is current working on a book on green political economy, provisionally entitled, Political Economy, Polity and Nature: Sufficiency, Vulnerability and the Greening of Civic Republicanism. He is also co-leader of the Green Party in Northern Ireland and has stood for elections twice - www.greens-in.org.

Thomas Horner presented to our MAPL Political Organizing class on Saturday, April 28, from 8:45am-11:45am, as a community faculty team member.

Thomas F. Horner is a founder and principal of Himle Horner Inc., a public relations/public affairs firm. Himle Horner provides counsel to state, regional and national clients on public affairs, corporate communications, media relations, crisis communications and other areas. Before forming Himle Horner, Horner was vice president and general manager of the Minnesota office of Hill and Knowlton. Prior to Hill and Knowlton, Horner worked for former U.S. Senator Dave Durenberger (R-MN). He joined Durenberger as press secretary during Durenberger’s first campaign for the U.S. Senate (1978). After Durenberger’s election to the U.S. Senate, Horner served in Washington, D.C., as the senator’s press secretary and chief of staff. Earlier in his career, Horner was managing editor of Sun Newspapers, Inc., where he supervised the editorial content and production of 16 suburban newspapers. Horner is a native of Minneapolis and a graduate of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. He teaches master's courses in corporate communications and public affairs at St. Thomas. Horner also is a public affairs commentator for Minnesota Public Radio and is a frequent public affairs analyst for other news media. Horner is the immediate past chair and a current member of the board of directors of the Citizens League, one of the oldest and most respected citizen public policy organizations in the country. He also is a member of the board of governors of The Children’s Theatre Company. In addition, Horner is a member of the boards of Catholic Charities; the Minnesota Commission on National and Community Service, also known as ServeMinnesota, an organization that coordinates volunteer learning service programs and administers the youth works grant program and the federal Americorps program; and the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications' Premack Board which oversees the Premack awards honoring Minnesota journalists.

David Foster and Margrete Strand Rangnes presented:

Environmentalists and Labor: On the Same Page At Last?

for the MAPL Public Affairs Lecture Series on Saturday, April 21, noon to 1pm, Location: Montague Hall (MonH) 70.

Diane Feldman of The Feldman Group presented on Saturday, April 21, for the MAPL 6004, Political Organizing, course.

Diane Feldman, President of The Feldman Group, is a highly regarded national political research firm. Established in 1989, The Feldman Group has worked with candidates from President of the United States to local school board president, and with unions, issue campaigns, initiatives and referenda across the country. The Feldman Group has helped win elections nationally and in 40 states. In 2004, Feldman was a part of the Kerry - Edwards 04 polling team. Before founding The Feldman Group, Feldman was a partner at Feldman, Lester & Associates, and Senior Associate with Greenberg Research. Feldman is a research as well as political professional. She holds a PhD in experimental psychology and quantitative methods from the State University of New York at Binghamton and has held research fellowships at Yale University and Duke University.

Dan McElroy, Governor Pawlenty's Senior Advisor on Innovation, joined our MAPL Political Process class as a community faculty team member on Saturday, April 14.

Dan McElroy serves as Governor Tim Pawlenty’s Senior Advisor on Innovation. He was appointed to this position in September 2005 after serving almost two years as the Governor’s Chief of Staff. Mr. McElroy served as Commissioner of Finance from January 2003 until February 1, 2004. In that capacity he was the State’s Chief Financial Officer. He was the architect of the budget which addressed a $4.56 billion budget deficit without raising taxes. Mr. McElroy is also a Trustee of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU.)

Mr. McElroy served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. During that time he was an Assistant Majority Leader, Chair of the Committee on Jobs and Economic Development Finance, and Chair of the Legislative Audit Commission. Prior to his election to the House he was Mayor of Burnsville (1987-1994) and a member of the Burnsville City Council (1983-1986.) In the private sector he was active in the travel agency business from 1979 to 1994 and in the travel agency software and consulting business from 1994 until 2003. He was a director of American Bank Burnsville, a member of the Burnsville Rotary, the Burnsville Chamber of Commerce, the Minnesota Taxpayers Association, the Citizen’s League of the Twin Cities, and the Center of the American Experiment. He and his wife Mary have lived in Burnsville for more than 25 years.

Karen Diver presented to our MAPL Civic Engagement class on Saturday, March 24, from 8:45am-11:45am, as a community faculty team member.

Karen Diver is the Chairwoman of the Fond du Lac Reservation. She serves as the chair of the tribal government and of the reservation’s corporate and economic development boards. The Fond du Lac Reservation is the largest employer in Carlton County with 1600 employees and over $300 million in assets. Previously, Diver served for three years as the Director of Special Projects for the Fond du Lac Reservation, and for eleven years as the Executive Director of the YWCA of Duluth.

Chairwoman Diver holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Minnesota Duluth, and a Masters degree in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, which she attended as a Bush Leadership Fellow in 2002. Diver has extensive board experience in the nonprofit sector including six years on the Minnesota Council of NonProfits' Board of Directors, serving two terms as chair. She was chair for six years on the seven-county Arrowhead Welfare Reform Partnership. She was a founding member of American Indian Community Housing Organization, the Duluth Community Action Program, Duluth Family Services Collaborative and the Duluth Human Rights Commission. She is a past gubernatorial appointee of Governor Arne Carlson to the Governor's Workforce Development Council. She is the immediate past Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Women's Foundation of Minnesota and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Blandin Foundation. She has experience in the areas of program and community development, workforce development, poverty and women’s issues and culturally competent programming.

Diver is an enrolled member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. She lives with her husband, Arnold Selnes, in Brevator Township, and has two grown children, daughter Rochelle and stepson Nicholas.

Buddy Robinson presented to our MAPL Urban Policy class on Saturday, March 24, in the afternoon, as a community faculty team member.

Buddy Robinson is the Staff Director of the Minnesota Citizens Federation – Northeast (based in Duluth), and Legislative Coordinator of the Greater Minnesota Health Care Coalition. He is involved in extensive public policy work at the state and local levels, especially on health care, but also with living wage and corporate subsidy issues. He was the Health Care Legislation staff person and Organizing Trainer for the statewide Minnesota Senior Federation for several years. He also served as a mentor and guest trainer for the Organizing Apprenticeship Project (St. Paul, MN). Prior to coming to Duluth in 1979 to become the Senior Federation – NE (now Citizens Federation – NE) director, he worked as a community organizer for Wisconsin Welfare Rights and Massachusetts Fair Share. He has a BA in History & Sociology from Columbia University, and received Community Organizer training at the Midwest Academy, Industrial Areas Foundation, and Gamaliel Foundation. He is the 1999 recipient of Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action’s “Activist of the Year” award. He co-authored, with Mark Hanna, Strategies for Community Empowerment: Direct Action and Transformative Approaches to Social Change Practice (a graduate and undergraduate social work text); and several journal articles on community organizing and civic engagement. Other activities include: Columbia University Secondary Schools Alumni Committee (admissions interviews) and University of Wisconsin – Superior Social Work School Community Advisory Committee.

Representative Gene Pelowski, Jr. joined our MAPL Ethics class on Friday, March 9, from 6-9pm, as a Community Faculty Member.

Senate Majority Leader, Senator Larry Pogemiller will present for the MAPL Public Affairs Lecture Series on Saturday, March 3, noon to 1pm, in The Rafters. canceled due to weather

David Arons, former co-Director of Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest joined our Nonprofit Lobbying class on February 17. David F. Arons serves the nonprofit sector as an attorney, advocate and volunteer. He is formerly Co-Director of the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, in Washington, D.C. He is the editor of Power in Policy: A Funder's Guide to Advocacy and Civic Participation, (Fieldstone Alliance, 2007) and co-author of A Voice for Nonprofits, with Jeffrey Berry (Brookings Institution, 2003). David served as a lobbyist for Independent Sector, a national association of nonprofits and foundations and has taught courses in nonprofit advocacy at Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University. He received a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law, a Master's in Urban and Environmental Policy from Tufts University and B.S. in Political Science from James Madison University. David is currently an attorney with the Fields Law Firm in Minneapolis.

Christina Macklin joined our MAPL Lobbying class on Friday, February 16, from 6-9pm as a community faculty team member.

Christina is the Policy Analyst for the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN). Christina joined the staff of the MCN in January 2001. She spends most of her time analyzing tax and budget issues for the Minnesota Budget Project, an initiative of MCN. She also assists in MCN’s other public policy work and produces the Minnesota Nonprofit Economy Report, which is published annually. Christina has an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota and holds a B.A. in Political Science from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

Jeannie Fox presented in our MAPL Nonprofit Lobbying class on Saturday, February 10 from 1-4pm, as a community faculty team member.

Jeannie Fox, Deputy Public Policy Director at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, spent over a decade working in nonprofit and government direct service organizations. This experience greatly informed her later work as a nonprofit administrator and policy director. In her current role at MCN, Jeannie is responsible for direct and grassroots lobbying and advocacy efforts, is a frequent speaker and trainer to various nonprofits increasing their capacity to do advocacy and civic engagement work, and is furthering MCN’s policy goals by establishing six regional policy cabinets in strategic geographical areas around the state of Minnesota. Jeannie has a B.A. degree from South Dakota State University, a Masters degree in Agency Counseling from the University of North Texas, and a Mini-MBA for Nonprofit Organizations from the University of St. Thomas. She can be reached at (651) 642-1904, ext. 247, or at jeannie@mncn.org.

Jeanne Olson presented in our MAPL Ethics class on Friday, February 9 from 6-9pm, as a community faculty team member.

Jeanne Olson is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. The Board administers Minn. Stat. Chapter 10A, which encompasses campaign finance and regulation, distribution of public subsidies, registration and reporting by lobbyists, and economic interest disclosure by public officials. She joined the Board staff in 1982 and held a variety of positions before her appointment in 1995 as Executive Director.

Ms. Olson is on the Board of Trustees for the Campaign Finance Institute, a non-partisan institute affiliated with the George Washington University, that conducts research and recommends policy changes in the field of campaign finance; is a Past President of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws, the umbrella organization of campaign finance, ethics, lobbying, and freedom of information agencies in the U.S. and Canada; and continues to serve on COGEL executive committees including past president, site selection, and succession planning.

Ms. Olson frequently serves as guest faculty for college courses in ethics, legislative issues, campaign finance, and lobbying, teaches continuing legal education seminars in lobbying, legislative process, and campaign finance, and is a speaker at annual COGEL conferences.

Marcia Avner presented in our MAPL Lobbying class on Friday, February 9, from 6-9pm as a community faculty team member.

Marcia Avner is Chair on the nonprofit steering committee for the Nonprofit and Community Advocacy MAPL concentration. She also teaches MAPL 5308 The Impact of Art on Social Change, MAPL 5200 Nonprofits and Civic Engagement, and MAPL 5119 Techniques for Nonprofit Advocacy. She is the Public Policy Director with the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN), a statewide association of nonprofits with over 1400 member organizations. Her work includes training, education and lobbying on issues that are important to nonprofits and the people they serve. MCN is dedicated to building the capacity of the nonprofit sector and individual organizations to engage in strategic public policy work. Her efforts have involved national and international speaking and training. Avner is also an Assistant Professor at Hamline University and teaches management, fundraising and lobbying courses. Avner has authored The Lobbying and Advocacy Handbook for Nonprofit Organizations: Shaping Public Policy at the State and Local Level, published by Wilder Publications in January, 2002. Prior to her work with MCN, Avner served as Communications Director for U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone and worked with Sheila Welstone on shaping a domestic violence prevention and intervention initiative. Avner was Deputy Mayor to St. Paul Mayor Jim Scheibel, Executive Director of The Minnesota Project, Assistant Commissioner of Energy for the State of Minnesota, and Legislative Director with the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group. Avner has a BA from Carnegie Mellon University and a MA from the University of Arkansas.She serves on numerous community and nonprofit boards including Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest, Jewish Community Action, and Lifetrack Resources, Inc., and Wellstone Action! Senator Scott Dibble joined our MAPL Nonprofits and Civic Engagement Lobbying class on Saturday, January 27.

Robbie LaFleur joined our MAPL Lobbying class on Friday, January 26, and also the Political Process class on Saturday, January 27, as a community faculty team member.

Robbie LaFleur is the Director of the Legislature Reference Library and has been with the Library for almost twenty years. She remembers the days when researching a current bill meant walking over to the Capitol and getting a print copy, and a fax machine was considered cutting-edge. Ms. LaFleur has long been an advocate of the early adoption of new technologies to improve the Library's services to the Legislature and the public; the Library's Web page now includes an RSS feed, and the Library delivers many of its current awareness services via e-mail. She is a past Chair of the National Conference of State Legislatures Legislative Research Librarians Staff Section. Her undergraduate degree in Scandinavian Studies and graduate degree in Library Science are both from the University of Minnesota.

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